International Eye Candy
July 21, 2009

Yes, boys and girls, it is once again Todd from Twitch here with another edition of the best and brightest from around the globe for your amusement and education. I'm actually in Korea wrapping up jury duty at PiFan at the moment, but that doesn't mean we don't have plenty of the good stuff for you this week. No, on the contrary, we've got a dozen slices of cinematic gold for you. We've got Jason Eisener's complete foliage-revenge picture TREEVENGE! We've got Filipino superheroes! We've got the latest from the star of CHOCOLATE! And, yes, we've even got some Jean-Claude Van Damme. Life is good.

We begin in France with the mad genius responsible for DELICATESSEN and CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. Yes, I know we've already pointed you to a whopping eight teasers for Jean-Pierre Jeunet's MICMACS A TIRE-LARIGOT, but what can I say? That just wasn't enough for him and he's now gone and released a full length trailer as well.

Get your fill of MICMACS here

And off we go to Japan for the latest from Mamoru Hosoda's SUMMER WARS. Hosoda has become the new golden child of Japanese animation on the back of his stellar THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME, with the entire creative team reuniting for this one. As with GIRL it's a scifi tinged, teen-oriented adventure, this one telling the story of a collision between earth and an alternate dimension. The official trailers so far have all focused on the earth-based part of the film but now we've got a fresh music video that takes you into the alternate reality. Pretty much brilliant. And the music aint bad, either.

Join the WARS here

Any fans of the classic Japanese cult FEMALE CONVICT SCORPION films? These were huge influences not only on KILL BILL but on pretty much every female revenge picture made since the 1970s and a couple years back a Japanese-Hong Kong co-production titled SASORI aimed to restart the franchise by going right back to the roots. It's been a long time waiting for this thing to be released but, finally, there are releases coming in both the UK and Japan, which means trailers! And, yes, that is Simon Yam playing the wise martial arts master.

Find the SASORI trailers here

I promised Van Damme and Van Damme I shall deliver in the form of a new promo spot for THE EAGLE PATH, the new film written, directed by and starring the man himself. This is a pretty straight throwback to the 1980s action style and one that you may already be familiar with thanks to an earlier, very raw promo prepared for Cannes. They've had some time to work on it now and while I don't think it's still quite done this new reel is a whole lot more polished.

Walk the EAGLE PATH here

And now for something completely different …

We leave people getting punched in the face for the time being to take a look at the trailer for STRIGOI, an upcoming vampire comedy that puts an unusual spin on things by going right back to the original Romanian vampire mythos rather than using the more familiar versions we typically see on screen. And better than that, it actually looks quite funny. Amazing how so many comedies forget about that part …

Check out the STRIGOI trailer here

Ah, you should have known that I couldn't stay away from people getting punched in the face for too long …

RAGING PHOENIX is the latest from CHOCOLATE star Jija Yanin, a film that adds a touch of romance and a whole lot of hip hop dancing to the mix. And also people getting punched in the face. And also Yanin proving that she's just obscenely bendy. We ran the first teaser for this one last time out, I believe, but it's back in the ol' IEC by virtue of a new 3+ minute trailer. And it's subtitled, even!

Find the new RAGING PHOENIX trailer here

Nobody gets punched in the face at all in the teaser for Teddy Chen's BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, which comes as a surprise since it's a new, big budget action epic that stars pretty much everybody who matters in the current Hong Kong film world, including man of many fists Donnie Yen. There's been serious conflict on the set of this one – director Chen actually walked off an was replaced for two weeks before things were patched up – but it demands attention thanks to the scope of it – they actually built a massive standing set of Hong Kong as it was at the turn of the century – and the cast.

Are you a BODYGUARD or an ASSASSIN? Pick a side here.

People are kind of getting punched in the face in the teaser for Topel Lee's Filipino superhero film WAPAKMAN but the odd thing is you really can't tell by what. Trust me, you want to watch this one. Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao has the lead in the one and rumor is that the WWE's Dave Batista and the lead Barbie from the Pussycat Dolls also have parts.

Fear the wrath of WAPAKMAN!

Austinites will get the chance to see Spanish animated short ALMA soon since it's been announced as part of the 2009 Fantastic Fest lineup and to give you an early tease we've got just the briefest taste for you here. There's not really anything here to tip off the story but what the teaser does do is make it very clear that director Rodrigo Blaas is an exceptional talent.

Find the ALMA teaser here

That's one hell of a teaser image for Gabe Ibanez's HIERRO there and believe me when I say that the film itself – recently premiered in Cannes - is positively jammed with images every bit as striking. Don't believe me? The trailer has finally arrived and it is tasty stuff indeed. Need more convincing? The producers were also behind PAN'S LABYRINTH and THE ORPHANAGE. Get to it.

Find the HIERRO trailer here.

Hold on to your seats! The trailer for BLACK SHEEP director Jonathan King's UNDER THE MOUNTAIN has arrived to show us that King has more in his bag of tricks than just angry, man eating sheep. This one is a family-friendly fantasy adventure based on a popular Kiwi novel and I'm rather pleased that it'll be screening here in PiFan later this afternoon. And don't worry, Sam, I'll be taking your advice.

Head UNDER THE MOUNTAIN here!

And, finally, we conclude with TREEVENGE, the massive cult hit short from HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN director Jason Eisener. This one got the audience roaring at Sundance, Fantastic Fest and too many others to list and we've got the whole thing for your viewing pleasure. It's a blood-drenched ride, though, so you may want to be aware of where you are, exactly, when watching it.

Take your TREEVENGE here